Embracing the Fullness

Photo credit: Rita Pierce

I sit here writing this and witness a picture perfect day in Maine: bluebird sky, full sunshine, gentle warm breeze, the bay filled with sailboats, flowers in full bloom, children with ice cream stained t.shirts licking their cones, friends riding bikes, a seeker of knowledge lounging in the grass reading a book. Albeit the heaviness and suffering that is happening all over, mother nature still lures us into joy, awe, and inspiration. Life is complex, daily we have opportunities to settle deeper into seeing and being with the truth. As there continues to be suffering in the world, the call to keep holding space to raise consciousness becomes more and more clear.

If we all were more seated in our essence of love, would there be so much hate? For ourselves, towards each other, to strangers? My opinion is no.

I recently had a conversation with my acupuncturist about the sadness of the world. He mentioned how struck he was at a concert he attended the night prior where the artist consciously chose to hold the space of love over fear. He said the artist beautifully and profoundly stood up in the way he could to help heal; he held the space of pure love. “All through the concert there was a palatable quality of love and compassion held in the audience and auditorium.” My acupuncturist said he left feeling so uplifted and in deep connection.

I teach about finding love. Remembering our essence, remembering our connection to one another. We are all deeply connected and intertwined. Tantra Philosopher Christopher Wallis, in Tantra Illuminated speaks to what happens when we forget our essence:

“When those finite subjects [us humans] then identify with the limited and circumscribed cognitions and circumstances that make up this phase of their existence, instead of identifying with the transindividual overarching pulsation of pure Awareness that is their true nature, they experience what they call ‘suffering.’… ‘one’s real identity is that of the highest Divinity, the Whole in every part.'”

May we remember. We are all connected. We are all one. We are all from source. We stand on the same earth. We breathe the same air as all life. We recognize that our actions ripple into this giant web of life. We realize that by being vulnerable we deepen connections and relations. As Pixie Lighthorse states, allowing ourselves to speak, live, and be our truth starts to repair culture:

“Know what you need, and ask for what you want from those who can help you. Try to be honest about what you are going through. This is how we repair culture – by valuing what matters and connecting with one another about it.”

In order to know what we need, it becomes essential that we carve out time in our lives to slow down, listen, and ask ourselves what is really the truth of the now. The speed of life can sweep us into to-dos and engagements, but, distance us from our own truth and knowing. The importance of slowing down and allowing ourselves to really know what is happening in the inner landscape of ourselves is crucial for healing ourselves and our planet. One of my favorite yoga shirts that I rock from time to time from Be Love states, “World Peace Through Inner Peace.” When we are seated in ourselves with kindness, love, and care, this becomes the way begin to relate to all things.

Some of the ways I have started to bring more conscious awareness to bringing loving kindness into my day is to rise and shine with gratitude and step into accepting, loving, and welcoming awareness and intention. John O’Donohue’s words in the poem For Presence are beautiful offerings for the morning, “Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence. Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses… May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”

If we all can see ourselves as majestic temples, and started to see the sacred nature in others, perhaps we would tread more lightly with the use of our words, thoughts and, actions. The image of this type of connection and union together as friends, community, and a planet is best said by artist Xavier Rudd, “Can you feel the love vibrating?”

Wishing you all a wonderful 4th of July drinking in the freedom of each breath and moment. As Tara Brach says, “No matter how painfully we are triggered by the world’s violence and insensitivity, we can direct our attention in ways that carry us home to our intrinsic sanity and good-heartedness. This awakening is our evolutionary potential.” Remember, love, and experience the richness of this auspicious life.